Winter Storm — Webster, Nebraska

2024-01-13 · Webster, Nebraska

Event narrative

Any additional snowfall during this period was light. A reinforcing push of northerly winds gusting between 35 and 45 MPH resulted in blowing and drifting of the snowfall from the 11-12th, causing poor visibility and hazardous conditions through the daytime hours on the 13th.

Wider weather episode

An upper level trough moved from over the Rocky Mountains to the Central Plains to the Midwest. Shortwave troughs associated with the upper trough moved over Nebraska and Kansas. An Arctic cold front began moving across central and south central Nebraska during the early morning hours of January 11th. Snow started to develop and move across the area during the late morning and early afternoon hours of January 11th. The snow gradually ended from west to east beginning the morning of January 12th and continued into the afternoon hours.

An upper trough over Canada and Montana plunged southward and moved over the Central Plains by the morning of January 13th. This trough brought a reinforcing shot of colder air along with stronger northerly winds gusting to 30 to 40 mph which continued on through the day on the 13th. Additional lift from this upper trough resulted in light snow during the night of January 12th and into the morning of January 13th. This resulted in additional blowing and drifting snow, and hazardous travel due to near-blizzard conditions.

This heavy snow event resulted in widespread road closures and school/activity cancellations, and even several business closures. The heaviest snow affected areas mainly along/east of Highway 281 and along/north of Highway 6, where totals reached 6-12 inches in spots. Amounts tapered off to closer to an inch for areas further west and south. The brunt of accumulating snow fell from mid-late afternoon on the 11th through around midday on the 12th, with north-northwest winds gusting to around 30-35 MPH. Grand Island tied the liquid equivalent precipitation and snowfall records. Hastings set new records for liquid equivalent precipitation, snowfall, and cold high temperature.

Along with county and rural roads, Highways 281, 4, 136, 78, 28, and 9 were considered impassable or closed outright due to near-blizzard conditions. While Interstate 80 was not closed, travel was discouraged by officials. Multiple counties pulled their plows off the roads during the worst of the conditions due to safety concerns. Several rescues were done on the morning of the 13th due to people being trapped in vehicles out in open areas. Due to the cumulative impacts across central and eastern Nebraska from the winter storm on January 8-9th and this one, the Governor of Nebraska declared a state of emergency, and the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency activated its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate efforts. Over the week, Nebraska Department of Transportation put in at least 35,000 man-hours, and even received some support from South Dakota. The Nebraska State Patrol responded to more than 1,200 stranded vehicles between the two storms across the region, close to 100 crashes, and over 400 motorist assists. Bitterly cold air and continued gusty winds brought dangerous wind chill values of -30 to -45 to the entire region for several days following the departure of this storm system.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1157402. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.